Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the second practice ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix; the nine-time Budapest winner set an 18.729 to go just under a tenth and a half ahead of his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc. Hamilton said following last weekend he needed to step it up, and through Friday’s sessions he did that.
While Ferrari’s pace at the Hungaroring, a circuit many had assumed would suit their car, – came as little surprise, the Italian team will be further buoyed by the unexpected struggles of championship leader Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes. They have established themselves as clear favourites for one of the season’s most crucial qualifying sessions, even more so than Monaco.
The nine-time winner earlier on Friday was “honoured” to have Turn Two named after him, along with several other former winners Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, and Ferenc Szisz, who won the first French Grand Prix in 1906.
Ferrari looks to be comfortably ahead this weekend, though questions will remain about whether Mercedes can bounce back as they continue to be the team to beat. Last year’s race winner and world champion Lando Norris was third, the McLaren driver going three and a half tenths off the pace set by the Ferrari.
Max Verstappen put his Red Bull fourth as he went over a quarter of a second faster than the Mercedes of George Russell. Mercedes, who remain the favourites for the championship, over nine tenths off their nearest rival; however, Budapest often throws up abnormal results, and the strength of Hamilton can never be counted out here.
Russell split the two Red Bulls as he went over a tenth faster than Isack Hadjar, who was the first driver to lap over a second off the outright pace. But the Englishman complained about “dreadful” rear balance. Hadjar was just under a quarter of a second faster than the sister Racing Bull of Liam Lawson.
Oscar Piastri could only go eighth, six hundredths behind Lawson and ahead of Nico Hulkenberg by a tenth and a quarter; the McLaren driver had missed FP1 as one of his sessions for young drivers. Arvid Lindblad made it two Racing Bulls in the top ten, as he went nearly a quarter of a second ahead of Gabriel Bortoletto.
Esteban Ocon was over a tenth and a quarter faster than championship leader Kimi Antonelli. Having missed FP1, the Italian struggled badly on his return to action as he repeatedly ran off track amid rear locking issues. He didn’t complete his qualifying run; his first was abandoned after Franco Colapinto crashed at Szisz (Fourteen), bringing out the red flag.
Antonelli was complaining all session about rear brake locking, but he was on a par with Norris’ time in the first sector on both laps before they were curtailed. The Mercedes driver was going a tenth and a quarter faster than Pierre Gasly, while Ollie Bearman was over a tenth and a quarter further behind.
Alex Albon was four and a half tenths faster than Williams’ teammate Carlos Sainz, with the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas a hundredth and a half further behind.
Much of the build-up to this weekend has focused on Aston Martin upgrades, but it was a tough start; Lance Stroll didn’t feature after his suspension broke in first practice, with the team’s woeful season continuing as their unveiling of a sixteen-part upgrade package was overshadowed by the incident.
Fernando Alonso was unable to use the upgrades to move the team up the field; he finished two tenths and three-quarters behind Bottas, who was ahead of Sergio Perez by three-quarters of a tenth. The two-time champion just under three seconds off the outright pace set by Hamilton.
Sergio Perez was nearly three-quarters of a tenth faster than Colapinto, as they completed the field.
